


Talking About Home

by Mikazuki_Nika



Series: Nika's Banana Fish Oneshots [3]
Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: M/M, Oneshot, eiji beginning to realize just how far deep ash is drowning, eiji tells ash about izumo, middle of episode 6, shorter realizes just how much eiji might mean to ash, shorter's listening bc he's actually awake, when they're sleeping in Cape Cod
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-07-01 19:24:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15780501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mikazuki_Nika/pseuds/Mikazuki_Nika
Summary: Eiji thinks a little bit about Cape Cod and the boy who makes it more than just an unmentionable dot on a map.Takes place in the middle of episode 6, when the gang is sleeping their first night in Cape Cod. Features soft!shorter who goes hard for Eiji.





	Talking About Home

* * *

**Oneshot: Talking About Home**

* * *

******Normal POV**

“You don’t like it here?” He asks, the persistent wind rustling his hair and clothes.

Ash stares at the horizon, where a cracked sunset bleeds tiger orange over the sea of Cape Cod. The color seeps into the surrounding landscape, the grassy hill and the rundown house behind them and the two or three trees here and there… even Ash’s face - his eyes, his hair, his skin - is dyed that warm, fiery orange, and for a moment, Eiji’s next breath doesn't come.

“I’ve never even thought about it.”

It’s an honest answer, and Eiji knows what he means.

He hasn't had the time to think about it.

* * *

His thoughts are stuck on Ash (again) for the rest of the evening. Before he knows it, the flaming orange is snuffed out by a dreamy purple, and there are tiny white stars winking down at him. The orange and purple are buffered by a furious, electric pink that is short lived and has Eiji wondering if he’s ever seen the sky look like this in Japan. 

But then the sea turns black and the dusty blue of night seeps into the light show like running ink, until all he can see are the stars and the moon and its reflection in the sea, as well as the warm little house lights of the town below the hill. It’s strange how dark everything becomes so suddenly, and Eiji blames being in the sleepless city of New York for so long, with its glaring neon lights and continuous traffic. The only things he can hear in this place are the soft  _ shhh-shhhh  _ of the sea’s tide, the wispy wind dancing past his ear, and the faint voices of his friends inside the house preparing for bed. 

Eiji leans on the feeble wooden railing of the porch and stares at the moon’s reflection in the black ocean water. Strangely enough, of all the places they've been so far, Cape Cod is most like his own home at the edges of Izumo. Quiet. Surrounded by nature. Away from the big city.

Except that Izumo isn't as pretty or exciting, but he figures Ash would say the same thing about Cape Cod if he ever has a chance to see Japan for himself.

His mouth twists into a frown at the thought.  _ Bring Ash back to Japan with me? _ He wonders, looking down at his forearms braced on the railing and his clasped hands.

It’s not a bad thought. 

“Eiji.”

He jumps out of his thoughts and whirls around to face Shorter, who’s standing in the doorway. He wears his sunglasses even at night, and Eiji briefly wonders if there's a reason.

“Ibe-san wants you to come in and help us with laying the blankets out.” He says, and then he steps back inside.

Eiji lets out a soft, “Okay,” and then turns to look at the sea one last time over his shoulder.

It's the thought that maybe whatever is swallowing Ash whole looks something like this that has Eiji nearly running back inside, chills crawling up his spine.

* * *

It’s past midnight now, and the older men are asleep peacefully in the bed. Shorter is snoring noisily on Eiji’s left side, and he mentally grumbles that they should have kicked him out to sleep on the sofa or something instead. The thought’s a long time coming, considering the fact that Shorter likes to cling to people in his sleep, as if he’s an eight-armed octopus. Eiji was happy when the Chinese turned over onto his other side and thankfully left him alone.

Ash had snickered at his predicament.

“Is this why you made me sleep in the middle?” He whispered accusingly. Ash could really be a little shit when he wanted to.

They were lying with their bodies perpendicular to the bed’s long side. If Eiji scooted up any more, he could probably stick his head under it, but he'd bump into Ibe-san’s shoes first. It felt like a cheap attempt at sleeping in a futon back home, but the thought made him relax more than he expected it to.

Ash turns over into his left side to face Eiji and Eiji turns onto his right so they’re face-to-face. Even in the darkness of this unfamiliar countryside house with no electricity, his eyes are shining and beautiful. 

“You asked me if I liked it here.”

Eiji blinks at him, waiting. He tucks an arm under his head and the folded blanket he’s using as a makeshift pillow. Ash takes this as a sign that he’s ready to listen.

“I don't know, even now.” He says softly, and Eiji sees that the question is beginning to nag at him. Perhaps he thinks that he  _ should  _ have some sort of feeling for his hometown? Whether it’s a positive one or a negative one?

“Shorter and Max told me you were not happy to hear we were coming to this place.” Eiji says.

Ash sighs and looks down at the space between them, fisting the sheets and blankets idly, as if they’ll give him an answer. “I wasn’t.” He confirms.

Eiji realizes that there’s nothing more to be said. Ash hadn't had the time to think about it before, and he didn't have the time now either. Ash was always moving, Eiji concluded, for better or for worse.

“This place reminds me of my home.” He says into the silence, and Ash looks visibly less stressed with the topic change.

“Oh?”

A small smile breaks over the horizon of his lips like the first few rays of dawn.

Then Eiji is telling him the little things about Izumo in Shimane prefecture. The way that the houses were too close together, how there were walls instead of fences, how the streets were wide and narrow at the same time, how his high school wasn't very far from his house, how Tokyo was actually far away but Hiroshima was close, how the harbor was only half an hour away by car. How at night, it would get quiet like this, and it would feel like the entire world was asleep even though you knew better.

And Ash listens. Listens and listens and listens, until his eyes droop and a silly little happy smile sits on his lips, almost too small to see. 

But Eiji sees it, and it rips at his heart just as much as it warms it.

And unbeknownst to them both, Shorter wakes at the constant whispering by his side and listens too. The way that Ash hung onto Eiji’s every word before falling asleep tells him just how much Eiji being here means to him. 

A tear slips out and trails over the bridge of his nose to land on the pillow, and he promises to himself silently that he'll protect Eiji, who means everything to his best friend whether he wants to admit it or not, no matter what comes their way.

And then they properly leave to the land of dreams.

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens when you rewatch Banana Fish.


End file.
